Pumpkin is king this time of year. And I do adore a pumpkin pie as much as the next person, but over Thanksgiving I rediscovered pears. They might be possibly be the perfect fall food.

I’m particularly partial to Comice pears – a lesser known variety that come from the valleys of Oregon. Tough on the outside and super tender on the inside, when eaten on their own they’re as sweet as candy. They are also the perfect snack when coupled with sharp white cheddar cheese.

But for the holiday I got brave and decided to try my hand at tart making for the very first time – crust and all. The pressure of Thanksgiving definitely had my palms sweating but the results were well worth the stress!

My first attempt was Martha Stewart’s pear crostata (top pic). This might be the most simple dish I’ve ever made. It involved just three main ingredients (if you count the crust as one) along with the pears and a dash of sugar. The crust is made of a mixture of cornmeal and pastry flour giving a bit of a savory undertone – which is why I ate it with a side of greek yogurt for breakfast for three days straight.

By the way, for all you homemade crust-phobes I’m here to reassure, even the most inexperienced bakers can pull this off! Admittedly a food processor certainly helped my cause, but I had quite the sense of accomplishment rolling out my first-ever homemade dough.

However, my pièce de résistance of the weekend was the pear tart with fresh almond paste and apricot jam that I made for Thanksgiving. It was the clear favorite on our table. Again the recipe and construction was easy as pie {pardon the pun} and the final result was sheer culinary genius. The combination of pear and almond was a perfect balance of nutty + sweet and the layers looked equally delicious on the plate.

The pumpkin pie never stood a chance.

So as we head into the heart of the holiday season, I know various pumpkin dishes will be dotting many a table, but might I suggest you give a pear a chance?!

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